Potlatch Has Completed Modernization Program, Trimmed Workforce

Thursday, February 22, 2001

Spokane – 2/22/01 - Potlatch Corporation (NYSE: PCH) senior executives today told New York securities analysts that the company has completed a decade-long, company-wide modernization and trimmed its workforce by nine percent.
L. Pendleton Siegel, chairman and chief executive officer, noted that completion of the modernization will result in multiple benefits, including a reduction in cash required annually to maintain the company’s competitive status. These requirements will be “considerably below the cash we expect to generate. This will result in an increase of free cash flow,” he said. He added that the cash flow would be channeled to reducing debt, repurchasing shares and investing in high-return projects at existing facilities.
Richard L. Paulson, Potlatch president and chief operating officer noted that “our people have forged a tougher, more aggressive and cost-competitive organization. They have proven themselves capable of the rapid transitions essential to success in the constantly changing, highly competitive business environment we now share.”